


How Angels Hug

by Word_Smith_94



Series: A Demon's Angel [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Longing, M/M, Mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 14:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14499270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Word_Smith_94/pseuds/Word_Smith_94
Summary: Sam's bored, and he asks Gabe to talk to him. So Gabriel asks: How did angels used to hug? They didn't always have arms, so what did they do?





	How Angels Hug

**Author's Note:**

> I found a picture on Pinterest, and this was the result. 
> 
> https://pin.it/skhlicibp7xegx

“Tell me something about angels that I don’t know.” Sam rolls over onto his side to look at Gabe lying on his back next to him in the grass. He knows how to fly now, has been doing perfectly for awhile, but they like to come out here to the field and fly for old time’s sake. 

“Angels used to have a different way of hugging.” Gabriel rolls over to look at the little demon who’s not so little anymore. He really is growing up. “Hugging with arms is a human thing, requires a human form, and we didn’t used to have that.” 

Curious now, Sam scoots closer so that he can play with the wing that has appeared in front of him. “What do you mean? I know human references to angels don’t always include a human form, but I thought angels were using them for a long time.” Now that he thinks about it, the older writings are actually pretty vague about the angels’ forms. 

“Well, we’ve been around longer than humans have, so we couldn’t have had human form back then. It took our Father coming up with a form to define Himself that we could mimic.” Gabriel smiles at the ‘oh, duh,” look that crosses Sammy’s face. He’s so adorable. “So, when angels didn’t have arms, we had to have another way to hug.”

Sam cocks his head, curious and thinking it through. “Have angels always hugged? You’ve implied that it’s a relatively human thing to do, and angels haven’t always been the most human. So, how did angels originally show affection?” He just wanted something to talk about, to break the silence, but now he’s actually pretty interested. 

Gabriel sighs, hiding his wings and rolling onto the back. How did angels used to show affection? He doesn’t know the original ways as well as Sammy might expect because as old as he is, he isn’t one of the first angels. By the time he came around, there was the idea of a human form, so he’s always been a hugger. When he showed affection that is. 

“Early angels were a little more amorphous. Shortly before our Father created early humans, we learned of the form He wanted to give them, and we took it ourselves, hoping to gain His favor.” No, angels haven’t always liked humans, not that all of them do even now. They were willing to do just about anything to maintain their favored position with their Father. 

After several moments of waiting for Gabe to continue, Sam speaks up, curious about where this is going and not wanting to wait for Gabe to stop remembering. “So what did angels used to be like?”

Gabe smiles at him, wrapping an arm around his waist to pull him into his chest. “Patience, little one. Before then, angels showed affection through actions. They would do things for angels they were fond of, show off with flashy magic, provide charms and gifts. It was a lot less tactile given out less physical bodies.” 

That makes sense. Sam has found references to old courting rituals between angels, but he didn’t realize that they were so old. “So how did it move from angelic to human, the way angels showed affection?” For beings that supposedly don’t care that much for humans, they seem to take on many human qualities and traits. 

Laughing, Gabriel sits up so that he can cradle the kid in his lap. He’s not too big quite yet. “Because we spent time with humans. It’s hard not to be influenced by humans when you watch them so often. We saw how they showed love and feelings, and we wanted to try it. But we still weren’t quite comfortable with the idea.” It took a lot of time to incorporate human activities into angelic life, but once they were there, they never left. 

“Because it was too human?” Sammy asks, nuzzling into Gabriel’s chest. Gabriel takes a moment to bask in the pleasure of running his fingers through Sammy’s hair, another human action, before speaking again. 

“Precisely.” Gabriel shakes his head at the arrogance of angels. They may have many physical advancements over humans, but they aren’t always better than humans. “And so we had to find a way to make hugging angelic, find a way to do it so that angels were the only ones who could do it that way.”

Sam takes another deep breath, wanting another lungful of Gabe’s scent before getting up. “Can you show me?” Sam hesitates, really not wanting to find out that he can’t be shown because he’s a demon. No matter how much time he spends in Heaven, no matter how much time he spends with Gabe and other angels, he can never truly forget that he’s a demon, not an angel. 

Gabriel can see the nerves in the way Sammy holds himself, tail wrapped tight around his leg. Standing up, he takes Sammy’s hands, walking backwards so that he can pull Sammy along, moving them through the grassy field. “Of course I can show you.” The smile that he gets in response is huge and bright, something he wants to see forever. 

Pulling Sammy to his side, Gabriel manifests all six of his wings, wrapping them tight around Sammy, cocooning them in feathers, arms at his side. “This is how angels used to do it, the only way that they hugged for centuries.” It's a little anticlimactic, a hug that Sammy has seen many times between Cassie and Dean, but this one seems special. Maybe it’s because they talked about the idea of it before it happened. 

With a small gasp, Sam takes in the feathers surrounding them, feeling closer to Gabe than usual. This hug feels different, he’s not quite sure how, but it’s different than when Gabe hugs him with his arms. Maybe it’s because there’s so much more. There’s the heat and the smell and the weight of his feathers in the air, something that doesn’t happen with arm hugs. Castiel does it with Dean, arms and wings, but Gabe hasn’t done it for him with all six wings like this before. 

“I like hugging like this,” Sam announces, hoping that Gabe takes the hint, that he’d like to be hugged like this again. He wants to ask for it, wants to ask for it to happen again and again, but he doesn’t know how to ask for it. 

Gabriel can smell the hope and anticipation in the air, smiling to himself. “Then we can hug like this all the time.” He wants to push it further, wants to adds his arms to the hug so that he can pull Sammy in for a kiss, but he isn’t ready for that. So he contents himself with a kiss on the top of his head, taking it as a chance to breath in the scent of his mate. 

Maybe next time. He can be patient. For the sake of his mate, Gabriel can be patient. 


End file.
